


Honey, I Shrunk The Avengers

by Amberdreams, velvetjinx



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Crack, DO NOT COPY, Established Relationship, Fluff, Illustrations, Light Angst, M/M, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Swearing, shrink rays, Уточнять у автора
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-03
Updated: 2019-06-03
Packaged: 2020-04-07 02:13:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19075396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amberdreams/pseuds/Amberdreams, https://archiveofourown.org/users/velvetjinx/pseuds/velvetjinx
Summary: Bucky hates coffee runs, but it's luck that's he's on one when the Tower is attacked by an unknown assailant. Unfortunately, he has a crowd of mini-Avengers to deal with, which is a little like herding cats. But can Bucky and the minivengers track down the man with the shrink ray before the whole of New York is held to ransom?





	Honey, I Shrunk The Avengers

**Author's Note:**

> velvetjinx: omg so this fic was so much fun to write! A big thank you to amberdreams for creating such inspiring art! Thanks also go to huntress79 for the beta, and to all the friends who cheerleaded me through it. Finally, thanks to you for reading it! I hope you enjoy.

Bucky hated going on coffee runs. Not because there was anything wrong with it, per se, but everyone had so many different orders and changed them up from time to time and, let’s face it, his memory still wasn’t quite what it used to be.

Still, that was what the note function on his shiny StarkPhone was for, and he dutifully wrote down everyone’s orders before heading out to the local hipster coffee shop. 

The thing was. Okay, so there was an all-singing, all-dancing coffee machine in the tower that they could all use, but according to Natasha it wasn’t perfect coffee and according to Tony it couldn’t make kombucha, whatever that was, and according to Clint the beans Pepper bought didn’t have enough caffeine… According to Bucky, that damn coffee machine was _fine_ , certainly better than the shit they drank during the war, but what the hell did he know, right?

The barista behind the cash register smiled at him—she’d seen him come in here enough that they tended to make some small talk. 

“Hey, how’s my favorite customer?” she asked, and he grinned.

“I bet you say that to all the genetically enhanced supersoldiers who come in here.”

“Nope, just you.” She shook her electric blue hair back from her face. “So what can I getcha this time?”

Bucky took a deep breath and started reading down the list. When the barista totaled it up, the cost was eye-wateringly high to someone who had grown up in the Great Depression (and probably to a lot of people who hadn’t), but he had learned not to flinch when he heard it and merely handed over his credit card. They all had them—the whole Avengers team, bankrolled by the infamous Tony Stark. At least he didn’t have to worry about funds, although Bucky often felt a little guilty. He and Tony had gotten over their differences—if you could be so flippant about the fact that as the Soldier Bucky had murdered his parents, which Bucky has confessed to him one night—and it hadn’t been easy. Tony had jumped Bucky, and tried to do some serious damage, but the other Avengers managed to stop him. After a few months of living together without speaking to each other, they’d fallen into an uneasy truce that had eventually blossomed into a really bizarre friendship. 

Bucky kind of loved that guy.

Not in the same way as he loved Steve, of course, but then, there was no one in the world he loved quite like Steve. Steve had been his everything for as long as Bucky could remember. They had slowly rekindled the relationship they’d had before… well. Before everything. And now it burned as brightly as it ever had. And the best thing? They didn’t have to hide it any more. No more keeping quiet because of the thin walls into the apartment next door, no more wishing he could kiss Steve whenever he wanted to but only being allowed behind closed doors. Now he could kiss his boyfriend whenever he damn well pleased. 

God bless the future. 

As he waited at the end of the counter for his order, he heard shouts and screams from outside. He looked out, and his eyes widened. There was a large craft hovering next to the tower, and a man with what looked like a large weapon shooting at people on the deck.

Bucky ran.

Heart pounding in his chest, he dashed up the stairs—no time to wait on the elevator. When he reached the floor with the deck he ran in just in time to see Steve— _his_ Steve—get hit by a ray from the weapon, held by a man in a mask and what appeared to be a metal suit. Bucky roared in anger and pain, dashing forward fast enough that he took the masked man by surprise. He charged into the man, knocking him off of the roof, and his weapon clattered onto the deck. The man, instead of falling to his death, flew off, his craft following behind him. 

The deck was empty. Not a soul was left, and Bucky fell to his knees, head buried in his hands.

“Bucky?” 

The voice sounded like it was coming from behind him, but when he looked round there was no one there.

“Bucky!” 

It was a high pitched voice, like those chipmunk characters in those kids’ cartoons.

“Buck, for fuck’s sake, I’m right here!”

Bucky looked behind him, and then looked down. His jaw dropped. 

“Ste… Steve?”

It was Steve—except that he was about six inches tall. Bucky looked around. There were the rest of the Avengers, gathering around him, all of them miniaturized. Clint came up and tapped Bucky on his knee. 

“Hey, Barnes!” Clint squeaked. “Where the hell’s my coffee?”

***

Bucky had managed to round them all up and get them inside, somehow, but their tiny little squeaky voices were giving him a headache, especially since they all seemed to want to talk at once. 

“Okay, I’m gonna need you all to _shut up_!” Bucky boomed, and everyone fell silent. Natasha may have rolled her eyes—she was too small for him to really be able to tell. “Okay, can one person please tell me what happened?”

They all started to talk at once again, and Bucky let his head fall onto the table in front of him with a thud. This was going to be a long-ass day.

***

At length, Bucky had just about had enough. “Okay. Steve. Why don’t you tell me what happened?”

“Oh, sure, pick your boyfriend to tell you,” Tony peeped, and Bucky glared at him.

“One more word from you, Stark, and I’m putting you under a glass.”

Tony screeched indignantly. Bucky ignored him. 

He held out his hand, and Steve climbed onto it. Bucky lifted Steve up so they were eye level. 

“While you were getting coffee,” Steve began, and his earnest face coupled with that high pitched cheep made it very difficult for Bucky to keep a straight face, “a masked man flew some kind of craft up to the deck. We all ran out to face him, but as we came out he just started hitting us with beams of light from that weapon.” Steve pointed to the weapon in question, which was sitting on the table next to the other Avengers. “The next thing I knew I was coming to, and I was this height.”

The others murmured in agreement. “It all happened so fast…” Natasha added, in a matter-of-fact squeak. “Who knows what his plan was once we were in miniature?”

“I do not understand how my hammer, too, has shrunk,” Thor added. “What manner of witchcraft is this?”

“I’d suggest the weapon probably has a feature to fix this,” Bucky said, “But I’d be afraid to just randomly press buttons. Who knows what some of them might do?”

“I know a guy,” Sam said suddenly. “We should probably call in Ant Man. He knows all about shrinking things—maybe he could help.”

“Sounds like the first sensible thing any of you have said all morning,” Bucky replied, only to be met with a cacophony of peeps. “Oh my god, please be quiet,” he added, moaning. “I’m sorry, okay? Where do I find Ant Man’s number, Sam?”

“It’s in the system. You can just ask JARVIS.”

Bucky nodded. “JARVIS? Call Ant Man.”

“Name not recognized.”

Bucky gave Sam a look of exasperation. “Oh yeah,” Sam said in a sheepish cheep. “His real name is Scott Lang.”

Bucky sighed. “JARVIS, call Scott Lang.”

“Calling: Scott Lang.”

It took a few rings for Scott to pick up. _“Hello, Mr Stark! Uh, what can I do you for?”_

“Hey, Scott? It’s Bucky. Uh, Bucky Barnes. I’m with the Avengers.”

_“Oh, hey, Bucky! How’s it going?”_

“Not too great, I’m afraid,” Bucky replied. “We have a bit of a situation that Sam thinks you might be able to help with. Is there any way you can come to New York today, as soon as possible? I can get JARVIS to book your flights.”

_“Sure thing! Anything I can do to help.”_

“JARVIS, when can you book flights for Scott Lang to get here?”

“There is a flight from San Francisco International to JFK, New York in two hours.”

“Cool. Scott, can you get on a flight in two hours?”

_”Uh, sure, I guess?”_

“Okay, then get your ass to San Francisco International for your flight. See you soon.”

JARVIS ended the call on Scott’s bewildered sounding ‘goodbye’, and Bucky sighed. “Okay, we gotta figure something out for you guys. Is anyone hungry?”

They all raised their hands, and Bucky groaned.

***

He ended up putting out grapes, cubes of cheese, and small slices of chorizo sausage for them to eat. The Hulk was quietest of them all, and Bucky couldn’t help but wonder if Bruce had changed the moment the ray was about to hit him. He had to try really hard not to laugh whenever the Hulk spoke, but he knew that it would probably go badly for him if he did. The Hulk never forgot anything.

Once they were all fed, Steve tugged on Bucky’s arm. “I’m thirsty,” he squeaked, and Bucky looked around helplessly for something small that they could drink out of.

Of course that was the moment that Pepper chose to arrive home, her chihuahua Toni at her heels. Pepper swore up and down that was all the dog would respond to when they got her from the shelter. Bucky had his suspicions, but he kept them to himself.

“Hey, Bucky!” Pepper greeted him. “Where is…” She trailed off and her eyes widened when she noticed the mini-Avengers waving at her from the tabletop. “Bucky,” she whispered. “What the hell happened?”

“Masked man with a ray gun,” Bucky said. “We’re flying Scott Lang in to see if he can help.”

“Good,” Pepper replied, sounding distracted. “That’s… good.” She walked closer to the table, and Toni started to yip when she noticed what was going on. Bucky watched as Thor used his hammer to fly down to the floor, where he stood, nose to nose with Toni. Toni cocked her head to one side for a moment, then sat down, wagging her tail.

“What a good beast,” Thor squeaked. Before Bucky knew it, Thor had climbed onto Toni’s back, gripping her collar like reins. “Away!” Toni stood, nails pattering on the floor as she ran towards the bar and back again. When she stopped at Pepper’s feet, Thor dismounted, giving her a scratch behind the ear. “What an excellent steed.”

Pepper flopped onto one of the dining chairs, her back bent so her head was between her knees. “Am I hallucinating?” she asked, voice muffled.

“Sorry, no,” Bucky said slowly, wishing he could tell her otherwise. He certainly wished he was.

“God,” she said, sitting up straight and tucking her hair behind her ears. “This is the weirdest thing I’ve seen for a long time. At least that wasn’t Tony’s fault, anyway.”

“Hey!” Tony squeaked from where he was sitting on the edge of the table, dangling his legs over the edge. “I’m right here!”

Bucky sighed. “These guys are thirsty. You got anything small enough for them to drink out of?”

Pepper thought for a moment, then nodded, getting up and leaving the room, Toni following behind her.

As Bucky sat, head in his hands, waiting for her to return, Steve climbed up onto his shoulder. “Don’t worry, Buck,” he squeaked pensively. “We’ll figure this out.”

Bucky felt a tiny peck on his check as Steve kissed him, and swallowed around the sudden lump in his throat. “Damn right.”

Pepper returned at that moment, carrying a box full of thimbles, and Bucky grinned. 

***

By the time Scott arrived, accompanied by a rather harangued looking Happy, Pepper had gone for a lie down. Bucky couldn’t blame her. He himself had changed into his tac gear which the Avengers had taken to mean that Bucky was their own personal climbing frame. Steve was swinging on a lock of hair by his left ear talking away; Natasha was using her grappling gun to scale his metal arm; Tony was chilling on his forearm; while the Hulk, who had been wound up into a frenzy by Tony and tried to attack him, was clutched firmly in Bucky’s metal hand, still trying to get to Tony and pushing at Bucky’s hand with all his might.

Bucky sighed. He had definitely not signed up for this.

Scott’s expression turned gleeful when he saw all the mini-vengers. “Oh my God, what happened here?”

“Masked guy with that weapon,” Bucky replied shortly, pointing. “Can you help?”

Scott frowned. “I’m not sure. I’m used to dealing with people who have been shrunk down to ant size, not pocket sized. I wouldn’t want to use any of my own gadgets on them in case something went wrong.”

“Then do you think you can figure out that weapon without pushing all the buttons?” Bucky asked.

“I can try!” Scott replied brightly, and Bucky only just managed not to sigh. That did not sound promising.

With Scott ensconced in Tony’s lab with the weapon, and Tony overseeing the process, Bucky looked at the time. It was two p.m.—only five hours since his teammates had been shrunk. It felt like longer.

A lot longer.

“What’s the face for, Barnes?” Natasha squeaked, climbing onto his metal arm and settling on his shoulder, legs swinging. 

“I don’t know how to protect all of you while you’re like this,” Bucky confessed. “And that scares me.”

“You think you have to protect me?” Natasha asked, laughter so high pitched that Bucky was worried for a moment that one of his eardrums had burst. “Do you know me at all?”

“Natasha, you’re like six inches tall. A stiff breeze could blow you off the deck. Yes, I need to protect all of you.”

“Or alternatively we could try and figure out who that masked guy was and what he wants,” Natasha reasoned.

“That’s actually a good plan,” Bucky said, wincing as Natasha punched him on the neck. “Ow! What was that for?”

“For sounding so surprised,” Natasha retorted. “Now, come on. Let’s go talk to JARVIS.”

Bucky managed to gather together all the shrunken Avengers, bar Tony, who was still with Scott, and headed towards the lab. When he got there, Scott was tinkering with the weapon using a screwdriver, while Tony squeaked out his own input. It was truly, utterly bizarre. 

Ignoring them, Bucky called on JARVIS and asked him to run a search of possible suspects. While that was working, he began to look through social media posts from around New York, to see if anyone had filmed the incident. After a while of searching, just when he thought that he might as well give up, Bucky came across a couple of instagram posts. Videos of that morning, and the strange craft at Avengers Tower. He downloaded them, and enlarged them, getting JARVIS to enhance them as much as possible.

“Do you see that?” Steve peeped loudly, pointing at the video and almost falling off of Bucky’s shoulder in his excitement. “Look at the bottom of the craft!”

Bucky peered at the video, pulling at it so it was even larger. He gasped when he saw what Steve was talking about. 

“That’s a Hydra symbol,” Bucky growled through gritted teeth. “Damnit.”

They’d made good strides into taking down what was left of Hydra after the fall of Project Insight, but obviously some of them were still out there. And gunning for the Avengers, by the looks of things.

“If we only knew who the guy in the mask was,” Sam piped up. 

“Or had any kind of clue to their plans,” Steve added. 

“I think I might have a clue to their identity,” Scott said, and it was so jarring to hear a normal, deep voice that Bucky almost jumped. “You said he looked like he was wearing a metal suit, right?” Bucky nodded cautiously. “Well, I know—from what Hank has told me—that there was this guy, a Hydra guy, who’s like… a cyborg, so that could explain how he flew. He was also a sharp shooter. If he’s working with enhanced Hydra tech now instead of regular guns, who knows what kind of damage he could inflict.”

“What’s his name?”

“Silvio Manfredi, alias ‘Silvermane’. He used to be in the Maggia crime syndicate in Italy, but he got power hungry and ended up forming an alliance with Hydra. He’s a bad guy. A really, seriously bad guy.”

“So where do we find him?” Bucky asked, and Scott raised an eyebrow. 

“You’ll only find him when he chooses to show himself, and by then it might be too late.”

Bucky shook his head. “We can’t risk that, not with the team compromised. We need to find everything we can about this guy. JARVIS, pull up everything you can find on Silvio Manfredi, alias Silvermane.”

“Searching databases. Here is everything currently on record for Silvio Manfredi, AKA Silvermane.”

There was a lot. File upon file flew onto the screen. 

“Uh, okay. Anything from the last year?” A few of the files were left. “Any clues in those as to where he might be or what his next move is?”

“Searching. Manfredi owns a warehouse down by the docks, and several rental properties, through a holding company. All recent crimes Manfredi is a suspect in are robberies—technological, or involving building materials. I assume he’s making something big.”

Bucky’s heart leapt into his throat. “Uh, what kind of building materials?”

“The same as in the weapon used on the Avengers, but far more than would be required to build a hundred of those weapons.”

“Oh God,” Bucky said, looking around. “He’s gonna build a giant shrinking gun. What if this wasn’t just to get you guys out the way? What if it was a test to see how it worked in real life? He knows that it works now. He could be preparing to hold the world at ransom.”

“We’d better take the quinjet to that warehouse,” Tony cheeped. “I’d lay a bet that he’s making his giant weapon there.”

“Agreed,” Bucky said. “Okay. Let’s do this.”

***

Bucky flew to the warehouse, his miniature companions in tow. He landed it a short distance away, and let everyone climb onto him before grabbing a rifle and heading towards the target.

Kicking down the door, he aimed his rifle as he stepped inside, but the warehouse was completely empty. There were a few wooden crates lying around here and there, but no signs of life. 

“Damnit,” Bucky said with a sigh. “We missed him.”

“We should go back to the tower and figure out our next move,” Steve peeped from right by his ear. 

“Hold on, Steve. Maybe there’s something here that can tell us where he intends to set up.”

Bucky scoured the warehouse, and was about to call it a day when he noticed a crooked painting on the wall. He knocked it away, and behind it was a safe. 

“Natasha?” Bucky said, and she nodded.

“On it.”

She stood on the palm of his hand, and he lifted her so that she was level with the dial. Arms outstretched, she tried to move the dial, then gave up, panting. “It’s too big,” she squeaked.

“That’s what she said,” Tony responded with a high pitched giggle, and Sam smacked him upside the head. “Ow!”

“You’re gonna have to turn the dial while I tell you when to stop,” Natasha told Bucky, who nodded. 

Together, they managed to get the safe open, their faces falling when they looked inside. Empty.

Natasha jumped inside, and grinned as she looked up. “Barnes! There’s a piece of paper stuck up at the top!”

Bucky reached in and extracted the crumpled paper. He spread it out, and his eyes widened. 

“This is a blueprint for the building opposite the tower! No wonder he wanted the Avengers out of the way!”

“We’d better get back,” Tony peeped, and Bucky nodded, making sure everyone was holding on securely before running back to the quinjet. 

By the time they returned, there was still no sign of Silvermane at the building across the street, but everyone was on the alert. As they headed into the tower, Scott met them at the door. 

“Guys! I think I’ve figured out how to unshrink you!”

“Seriously? That’s awesome!” Bucky enthused, and Scott looked sheepish. 

“Yeah, that’s the good news. The bad news is it’s gonna take me a few hours to recalibrate the weapon, so you’re stuck like this for a bit longer, I’m afraid.”

“Hopefully we can get everyone back to normal before Silvermane carries out his plans,” Bucky said grimly. “Otherwise we’re gonna have a problem.”

***

Bucky put together some more food and drinks for the mini-vengers, figuring that they probably needed to keep their strength up just in case. He himself had a snack of oven roasted mixed nuts, to which he’d recently become pretty addicted. They were just so good! Tony kept saying that it was because Bucky himself was pretty nuts, but that was just Tony. 

Pepper came in, Toni at her heels, just as they were finishing up, and her face fell when she saw the pint-sized gang hanging out on the table. 

“Still no luck?” she asked slowly, and Bucky shook his head.

“Scott thinks he’s figured out how to reverse it, but it’s gonna take some time to calibrate.”

“Well that sucks,” Pepper said, as there was a low booming noise from outside, followed by some screaming. 

“Damnit,” Bucky yelled. “I was hoping we’d have more time. JARVIS, tell Scott we need him to hurry up. Come on, gang. Let’s go get the bad guy.”

“I will follow you,” Thor told him, and Bucky raised an eyebrow as the rest of the team climbed onto him.

“Okay?” 

As soon as everyone was secure, Bucky ran. He grabbed a rifle from the weapons store, and made his way downstairs. 

It was pandemonium on the streets. Silvermane was shooting beams out of a middle floor window, hitting groups of people, cars, buildings… and shrinking them all. A cop car pulled up and was immediately shrunk down. The people who were still full sized were running for the hills, and Bucky couldn’t blame them. There were also a number of Hydra agents trying to inflict maximum damage, but Bucky’s first priority was getting that weapon offline.

He ran into the building, and up to the floor where Silvermane was located.

“I have an idea,” Natasha squeaked in his ear. “Stark and I will sneak in and disable the weapon. You go deal with the agents on the ground.”

Bucky nodded. “Good plan.” He lowered Natasha and Tony onto the ground. “Stay safe, you two.” 

A few moments later they were back on the street. The other Avengers climbed off of Bucky, taking their usual positions. It would have been impressive, if they hadn’t been so tiny. A Hydra agent looked up as Bucky strode up to him, elbowing him in the face and disarming him before he could even blink. Another Hydra goon shot at him, and he ducked and rolled out of the way. 

He looked up to see that the other Avengers had taken it upon themselves to take that goon down, and grinned as he watched them climbing up the goon’s legs. The Hulk punched the guy in the groin, and he went down hard. Bucky raised an eyebrow. Looked like the Hulk still had a decent amount of strength for his tiny body. 

He was so distracted watching this go down that he missed the other Hydra agent barreling towards him, ready to take him down. Bucky stood and braced himself, but it wasn’t enough; he landed flat on his back, the Hydra agent on top of him, pulling back to swing his first punch. 

“For Midgard!” 

Bucky looked to his right, as did the Hydra agent, and both of their mouths fell open in shock. Thor was charging towards them on Toni’s back, while she yipped in excitement. As they neared, Thor threw his hammer at the Hydra agent’s head, knocking him out. Bucky scrambled out from underneath the Hydra goon’s dead weight. 

“Thanks, Thor!” he said with a grin. 

“My pleasure, friend Barnes!” Thor squeaked, catching the hammer again and riding on into the fray. 

Bucky took out three more Hydra goons, leaving the last for the others. They seemed to be doing pretty well, despite their size. As he stood, brushing dirt from his knees, there was a sound like gears grinding to a halt, and Silvermane’s weapon stopped firing. Bucky couldn’t help but grin. 

“Well done Natasha and Tony,” he murmured to himself, and dashed inside. 

When he reached the room where Silvermane had the weapon, he burst through the door, rifle raised. Silvermane reached for his own gun, but Bucky fired a warning shot and Silvermane immediately put up his robot hands in surrender. He was an odd looking guy—but then, Bucky supposed, cyborgs who were mostly metal weren’t exactly gonna be normal looking. Still, with his metal body and human head, he looked very much like something out of a nightmare. 

“Stay where you are,” Bucky warned him, and Silvermane nodded. Taking out a set of industrial strength handcuffs from his belt, Bucky cuffed him, pushing him towards the door.

Bucky manhandled Silvermane outside, Natasha and Tony on his shoulders, to where the others were trying to explain to the cops what had happened. Bucky ripped off Silvermane’s mask. 

“Here’s the guy you want,” he said, pushing Silvermane towards the cops. 

“And I would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn’t for you meddling Avengers,” Silvermane spat. 

Toni yipped at him. 

***

When the cleanup was finished, and all the shrunken people had been rounded up, Bucky heaved a sigh of relief. He left the other Avengers down on the street, and headed upstairs to Tony’s lab. 

“How’s that tinkering coming along, Scott?” he called, and Scott gave him a thumbs up. 

“Figured it all out and just about finished!”

“Good,” Bucky said, grinning, “because there’s an even bigger version of this you’re gonna need to reverse afterwards.”

Scott’s gleeful expression was perhaps a little inappropriate, but then Bucky figured maybe he didn’t get out much. 

When the weapon was ready, they took it downstairs. Scott disappeared with some tools to do what he had to do with the big weapon, and Bucky got to unshrinking the general populace. He started with a police car, just to make sure it worked—he didn’t want to accidentally fry someone instead of unshrinking them. 

When that worked perfectly, everyone cheered. Bucky, who still wasn’t used to a lot of positive attention, was torn between smiling and hiding. In the end he just carried on, asking the shrunken to step forward one by one. 

By the time everyone had been unshrunk (biggened? Bucky wasn’t entirely sure what the right word was), Scott had managed to fix the larger weapon, and together they resized the shrunken buildings and larger objects. The Avengers had waited patiently until everything else was resized before getting resized themselves, and they stood in a line as Bucky aimed the weapon at them. 

Natasha was the first, and she gave Bucky and Scott a thumbs up. Then Tony, Thor, the Hulk, Clint, Sam, and finally Steve. Bucky only just managed to play it cool when Steve was back to normal. His instinct was to drop the weapon, run over, and kiss the life out of his boyfriend, but he figured that could wait until they were back in a more private setting. 

Tony was a little too gleeful about having new toys to play with, as the cops signed the weapons over to him for experimentation. Everyone else just looked relieved to be back to normal. Thor was standing with Toni in his heavily muscled arms, crooning to her about what an excellent and noble steed she was. Natasha, for her part, wandered over and punched Bucky on the arm. 

“Ow! What was that for?”

“For thinking you had to take care of us when we’d been shrunk? For taking so long to make us normal sized again? For not using the weapon on my guns and knives for me to use when I was tiny? Take your pick.”

Bucky sighed.

“Don’t listen to her, Barnes,” Tony told him as he strode past, surrounded by a gaggle of fans. “You did alright.”

“Thanks, Tony,” Bucky replied wearily. Really what he wanted to do was go in and sleep. 

The press had arrived in full force, and that was Bucky’s cue to very much get the hell out of there. He turned and walked quickly towards the tower, the others—except Tony—following behind him. 

As they reached floor where the living quarters were situated, Pepper came out, looking around. “You’re all back to normal!” she cried, looking around. “Tony?”

“Tony’s fine,” Bucky reassured her. “He’s just down talking to the press.”

“The usual, then,” Pepper said, rolling her eyes, and Bucky grinned. 

They went into the shared living area together and Bucky collapsed onto the sofa. Steve sat down next to him, slinging an arm around Bucky’s shoulders. 

“You did good today, Buck,” Steve said softly, eyes shining. 

“Thanks, Steve.” Bucky took a deep breath. “I was kinda worried for a minute that I wouldn’t be able to fix this.”

“I know you were,” Steve told him. “But I had faith in you that you’d figure it out.”

“Get a room, you two,” Natasha called through a mouthful of buttered bread, and Bucky smirked. 

“Sounds like an excellent idea, Steve. Shall we?”

“Oh no you don’t,” Clint said staunchly, standing in front of Bucky. “You’re not going anywhere yet, Barnes.”

Bucky raised an eyebrow. “And why is that, Barton?”

Clint’s expression turned into a pout. “Because I haven’t had my coffee yet and I really really need it. So you need to go on a proper coffee run where you actually, you know, return with the coffee, pretty much right now.”

Everyone except Steve made noises of agreement, and Bucky sighed, pulling out his phone to take down their orders. 

Some days he wondered why he bothered saving the team’s asses.


End file.
